By BOB MATTHEWS
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

Oakland Raiders' quarterback Rich Gannon has emerged as the front-runner for 2002 NFL Most Valuable Player with his record 10th 300-yard passing performance of the season, but don't hand the honors to him yet.

It would be difficult to deny Kansas City's Priest Holmes if he winds up leading the NFL in yards from scrimmage by a large margin and breaks the all-time record for touchdowns in a single season (he needs three TDs to top Marshall Faulk's 26 TDs in 2000). The Chiefs making the playoffs would boost his MVP hopes.

Miami running back Ricky Williams also has a shot after overtaking Holmes for the rushing lead. He leads the NFL with 1,500 yards rushing, and if he tops 2,000 yards and carries the Dolphins to the AFC East title, he'd merit serious consideration.

After a mini-slump, Green Bay's Brett Favre returned to MVP contention with a heroic effort in a comeback victory over Minnesota Week 14.

If Tampa Bay finishes with the NFL's best regular-season record, defensive tackle Warren Sapp would be a dark-horse MVP contender.

Atlanta QB Michael Vick lost his MVP momentum with a second poor performance of the season Week 14 against Tampa Bay.

Tennessee QB Steve McNair deserves more MVP support than he'll get.

Who's on Monday night

The Chicago Bears were the NFL's most overexposed team this season with three appearances on "Monday Night Football."

Fourteen of the NFL's 32 teams were deemed unworthy of Monday prime-time exposure this year and in hindsight the Bears should have been No. 15.

Here is how the 14 no-shows rate as prospects for "Monday Night Football" in 2003:

Most likely to appear -- Atlanta (featuring Michael Vick), Kansas City, New Orleans, San Diego and Buffalo.

Might make an appearance -- Cleveland, Dallas and Minnesota.

Unlikely to appear -- Arizona, Houston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Carolina and Jacksonville.

Notes

- The Miami Dolphins are about to embark on the perilous segment of their 2002 regular-season schedule. Since 1992, Miami is 28-5 in the first three games of the season but a mere 15-15 in the final three games.

- I don't know if this is a knock or a compliment, but has any previous NFL team as lousy as the Houston Texans won four games (and counting) in a season?

- Remember when NFL teams playing on Monday nights presumably were at a disadvantage due to shorter practice weeks? Participants on MNF this season are a combined 17-8 in games played the week after their prime-time appearances.

- The three-year decline in winning percentage by NFL home teams figures to end this season:

1998 - 151-89 (.629).

1999 - 148-100 (.597).

2000 - 138-110 (.556).

2001 -136-112 (.548).

2002 - 120-87-1 (.579).

- NFL road worriers update: the Minnesota Vikings have lost 17 straight road games by a combined score of 520-267. The Detroit Lions have lost 15 straight road games by a combined score of 442-253.

- Entering Week 15, only four NFL teams rank in the top 10 in both total offense and total defense and only one of them - Philadelphia (8th in offense and 5th in defense) - is a virtual lock for the playoffs. The others are Denver (5th and 2nd), Pittsburgh (3rd and 8th) and St. Louis (10th and 7th).

- If the NFL lobby were not so powerful, wouldn't this legislation be logical: games could not be blacked out in stadiums built with taxpayer dollars without a public referendum. Games could be blacked out only in stadiums built by the owner. Good luck.

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